George
The youngest member of The Beatles, George Harrison was born 24 February 1943 in Liverpool, England. While John and Paul dominated the spotlight in the band and were far more prolific songwriters, George is often considered the best musician of the bunch.
George had four older siblings. His parents, Harold and Louise Harrison were Catholics with Irish ancestry. Harold was a sailor, who switched to driving buses to be near the home when they started having kids. Louise was a ballroom dancing teacher. George worked as a delivery boy and an apprentice electrician to pay for guitars and had hopes of working as a musician or going to art school. He met Paul at the Liverpool Institute, but was a poor and awkward student, and left the school without completing his O-levels.
At Paul’s insistence, George was allowed to sit in with the Quarrymen and eventually became the lead guitarist. At first, George was not considered a particularly gifted musician, and his early solos were written by Paul. Producer George Martin was initially unimpressed by George’s playing and songwriting, and vetoed much of his work. By the end of the 60s, things had changed, and he gradually built a reputation as an extremely talented musician. He did not write attempt to write a song until 1963, when his first effort, “Don’t Bother Me” would appear on the band’s second album, “With the Beatles”. From then on, most albums would feature at least one song by George. All the songs that he wrote were recorded with himself singing lead.
“Try to realize it’s all within yourself no one else can make you change, and to see you’re only very small and life flows on within you and without you.” -George
During a tour of the US in 1965, George was introduced to Indian music, the sitar and Ravi Shankar. He was drawn to it, and quickly acquired a sitar for himself, using it on “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”, which was a first for Western popular music. George’s fascination with Indian culture eventually included a conversion to Hinduism. He travelled to India to study sitar, visit holy sites, and learn from the gurus. Back in England he met with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and, along with the rest of the band, learned about Transcendental Meditation.
Tensions developed between George and Paul starting around 1967, with Paul repeatedly unhappy with George’s playing while George felt snubbed by many of his songs and ideas being rejected. By the time the band split, he had a large number of songs written and unreleased, and began recording them himself. His 1970 effort “All Things Must Pass” is the best selling album by any former member of The Beatles. It was also the first Rock triple album ever released by a solo artist, and scored two #1 hits with “My Sweet Lord” and “Isn’t It a Pity”, with “What Is Life” also hitting the top ten.
In 1971, George organized the Concert for Bangladesh, becoming the first rock star to put on a major show for charity. He continued writing and recording throughout the 70s, but after the murder of John in December 1980, he largely shied away from the public. In 1988 he formed The Traveling Wilburys with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne. The friends had originally planned to record only a single track for George’s next album, but ended up making two full albums together. He ventured into film production, financing among others the Monty Python film “The Life of Brian” and the Beatles parody “The Rutles”.
George was married twice. First was Pattie Boyd, who eventually left him for Eric Clapton, though the two men remained close friends. George later married Olivia Trinidad Arias, who gave him his only child, son Dhani Harrison.
In 1991, George toured Japan with Eric Clapton. His first tour since 1974 would also be his last. By the end of the decade it became known that he was battling throat and lung cancer. In 1999 he survived an attempted murder. He was stabbed multiple times in his home and suffered a punctured lung. Though he survived and recovered from the attack, the cancer proved more difficult. He died 29 November 2001 at the age of 58.
Tags: Eric-Clapton, George, guitar, Hinduism, history, India
Eric Clapton, George, guitar, Hinduism, history, India
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